Friday 26 October 2001

Friday, the first night of the Octoberfest, and the air hangs heavy with expectation.

Sunbelt are the first band of the weekend and what a very good start it is. There's no shortage of power punk bands in any music scene but this one have the songs and the conviction to pull it off. For a start they don't have the punker-than-thou, Minor-Threat-were-too-commercial attitude that makes too many bands more interested in exercises in noise terror than in writing any decent tunes. Sunbelt seem comfortable in doing what they do without resorting to playing 10 second songs at 100mph. The singing is passionate without being angsty and the band embrace the songs with simple but warm arrangements. My only criticism - and this applies to a lot of would-be hardcore bands - is that the drumming is more Wonder Stuff than Bad Religion. But tonight, of all the bands on the bill, Sunbelt show the most promise. And they play Mr. Brownstone.

Richard Turner writes:- Despite being ridiculously low down on the billing(?), the Pier Group played a cracking set with nice tight arrangements and great playing. There were a couple of new songs, which were particularly good, nestled amongst some or their more familiar tunes. Paddy Garrigan gave a powerful vocal performance with some fantastic guitar playing. With hints of Richard Thompson, Neil Young and bit of Pete Townsend, Paddy was in total command of his playing, making excellent use of space and subtlety as well as some good rock action! Scott Morley's bass playing was suitably strong and supportive to the songs and often very melodic in its own right . Ben McCabe's drumming was characteristically expressive and empathetic. Although on one or two occasions, his refreshingly unconventional style meant that the beat was elusive, his knowing grin let him off the hook. The Pier Group are a very talented bunch and judging by this set, they are still getting better, still evolving. If only we got the opportunity to see them more often.

The Bottlenecks are new to the Yorkshire House but not new to many other pubs in the area where they play 2 or 3 gigs a week. Thus, they are the hardest working rockers in town. And rockers they most certainly are. Crucifixes, bare chests, power chords and Bruce Dickinson vocals, The Bottlenecks are clearly most influenced by the heavy rock of the late '80s. And the jury is still out on the late '80s. Long ago enough for it to feel like, well, like a different century but too recent for even Jamie Theakston to get misty eyed. The good news then, is that The Bottlenecks are fantastic. For a start they can really play their instruments. The lead guitarist, in particular, is clearly no stranger to practising his scales. Plus, they move around on stage. These things shouldn't be note-worthy but in this venue, and in contrast to some of the bands playing here this weekend, they are. As a result they are a breath of fresh air. There first song, where the words 'belted out' spring to mind, catches much of the audience by surprise. A shout of "Stonehenge" is heard. By the second the sheer enthusiam the band have for this music rubs off on nearly everyone. The third, singer Simon Thornton tells us, "hasn't got a name yet. But its very heavy." And indeed it is. Okay, the band's own songs might owe more to Ozzy than to Lemmy (a bad thing) but the whole sound is definitely old, rather than nu, metal (a good thing). And, yes, it is irony-free but until the country is hit by an irony drought we should be refreshed rather than annoyed by that. Get a drink in, get your air guitar out and be entertained.

Caned Unable seem to be still suffering from an identity crisis. Their set is pleasant enough and they seem like nice chaps. Much of their set is taken up with songs which suggest they aspire to writing the mid-tempo, whistled-by-milkmen, everyman tunes of Travis or The Verve. Unfortunately, the songs - to my ears - aren't strong enough to merit the comparison. And I don't even rate Travis. These are bedroom-written songs to a man. There's nothing wrong with them per se, they amble along, but then again there's nothing particularly right with them. Its a refreshing change then, towards the end of their set, they play their jovial cabaret song 'Women'. Its the best tune of their set and it fits the festival atmosphere better than some of their other tunes. But it also raises more questions. Is this meant to be comedy? Is it the case, as with the band's very name, that although its not very funny they don't want to be taken too seriously. Certainly, the singer has a habit of putting on a silly voice for no reason in the middle of songs. Or is it a reluctance to be too closely associated with the more serious sentiments of the songs? Caned Unable need to write a few songs of real quality, flesh out their arrangements and ditch the acoustic guitar. And leave the humour to MonkeyBucket.

Dry Riser play what used to be, and probably still is, 'pop-punk'. It's not pop and its not punk. Its just a bunch of fairly pointless songs that exist for no other reason than to give the band something to play when they've got a gig on. On a night when The Bottlenecks turned the clock back to 1987 it is Dry Riser's throwback to the mid-90s that feels the most dated. In fairness, it was very hard to hear the words (a problem the occured throughout the night) but the music was very unexciting. It was, I suppose, well rehearsed and they tried to get what was left of the crowd going. They played 'Everybody (Backstreet's back)' by dickless timewasters The Backstreet Boys but - get this - they played it in a punky way! Oh, stop, please, you're killing us. Can we, in the name of Christ, Mary and Joseph, have an amnesty on bands playing shit Top 40 songs in an "ironic" way? And that was the highlight. A predictable end to an eclectic night.